Furniture stores have survived as an offline business for several decades. Due to ecommerce evolution there is a dynamic change that has hit the furniture industry. Initially there was an aversion to build an online furniture marketplace as the product is not easy to pack and ship. The shipping cost will normally be high for large items. These factors have been a hindrance for furniture stores to enter the online platform. But times have changed and people have experienced the benefits of using digital platforms to buy products. Now they search online for larger items and this has created a wide need for furniture online marketplaces.
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Furniture Ecommerce Marketplace are Booming with Online Sales
Before you plan how to start a furniture eCommerce business, you need to clearly understand the scope of this field in coming years. The future of online furniture marketplace is commendable and the recent survey is the proof for this fact. Let us go through the latest surveys that are conducted regarding the growth of furniture marketplace online and also the leading furniture ecommerce platform in detail.
- The world-wide online furniture marketplace sale is expected to expand between 2020 to 2027. The current market worth is 508 billion US dollars and it is expected to reach around 650 billion US dollars by 2027.
- 1 out 2 furniture searches are made using mobile devices and 47% of conversion happens through mobile ecommerce.
- Before buying a furniture, buyers search around 14 times online regarding the product and quality before they make the decision to buy.
- Currently 85% of furniture stores are available in social media platforms and users prefer them the most.
- The most online purchased furniture products are the mattress (83%) and sofa (53%).
- 30% of B2B sales are made on furniture products as they find it more cost-effective and reliable.
Business Model of Online Furniture Marketplace
A smart buyer will always choose an online furniture marketplace when he wants to buy furniture goods or home decors. With more comfort, online furniture selling platform with just a few clicks. The buyer gets an opportunity to compare the price with other sellers and go through the reviews and understand the service and quality of the seller he has planned to purchase. In order to make the marketplace function well, it should possess a perfect business model. Let us go through the business model of an online furniture marketplace.
- The seller registers himself with the furniture ecommerce platform and creates a merchant account for him.
- Once the merchant account is created, the seller will start adding his products in the furniture marketplace online.
- The products will be listed in the online furniture store.
- Customers who visit the online furniture marketplace will search for the product and will find them.
- The customer will add the product in the cart and if interested he may proceed to checkout by paying the amount online.
- The admin of the online furniture marketplace will receive the payment from the customer. The admin will deduct his commission and will send the balance amount to the seller’s account.
- This is how online furniture stores work. This business model facilitates both sellers and admin to earn better profit. Trust is the main factor that both the parties should have on one another.
Must-Have Functions and Features for The Online Furniture Marketplace
To gain better shopping and selling experience your furniture ecommerce website should possess all extensive features. These features will make the online furniture marketplace stand alone in the market. Let us analyze the features for buyers, sellers and admin that are to be mandatory in any online furniture stores.
Essential buyer – features on a furniture ecommerce marketplace
Buyers are the source for generating revenue. So it is very essential to attract buyers to your furniture ecommerce software and the features should make them decide to purchase with your marketplace and also should be able to retain them.
- Interactive UI – User interface has the major role in influences the cart abandonment. When you have a user-friendly interface then you can positively reduce cart abandonment rate. If the UI and UX are not attractive and reasonable then the bounce rate will obviously increase. So focus on the UI/UX of your online furniture marketplace.
- Real-time order tracking – customers will always be curious to know about their orders and where their products are currently moving. This will increase the good impression about your marketplace and also increases the credibility of the platform.
- Multiple payment gateway integrations – integrate all familiar payment gateways with your furniture ecommerce platform as this is the key aspect that supports conversion to happen.
- Abandoned Cart & Recovery – this is a special analytical tool for an online furniture ecommerce marketplace platform that will help us to understand products that are abandoned by users and you can take necessary action to boost the sale of that particular product by providing exclusive offers and discounts.
- Shipping API options – get connected with the shipping agent and let your furniture marketplace platform deliver products on time to the customer. Provide multiple shipping options to your customers and simplify the delivery process.
- Multi-linguistic functionality – when you are running an online business it means your platform is globally connected and you may get international clients. So multi-lingual support is mandatory for online furniture stores.
Features Specific To a Vendor/Seller on a Furniture eCommerce Marketplace
Vendors are the real heroes of any online furniture marketplace. Without vendors you cannot term your platform as a multivendor marketplace. So you should give importance in satisfying your vendors and provide them enough features for furniture store ecommerce that will help them promote their products and get better returns.
- Banner Advertisement – provide space in your marketplace and allow vendors to post their ads in your banners. This will help them to be easily listed and they will be visible to the audience and can get better conversion.
- Powerful Vendor Dashboard – an intuitive dashboard will let the vendor analyze his own performance. He will get a clear idea about the fast moving product and sales turn over.
- Multi-Store Functionality – you may have multiple stores in several areas. All the stores can be interlinked with this feature and this is a much needed one for the vendor.
- Tax Management– the invoice should be generated along with the tax and the tax calculation differs from country to country. Your furniture ecommerce platform should have a global tax calculation.
- Inventory Management – stock maintenance is very essential for any vendor. The vendor should be properly and periodically informed about the stock availability. This will help to serve orders without any delays
- Import/export feature – vendors should be able to upload products along with their images and description.
Top Features for Admin to Operate The Marketplace with Ease
The admin of the online furniture marketplace has the key responsibility of managing the overall function of the platform. The admin needs to have more features that will ensure the smooth functioning of the marketplace. Let us check out the cool features of admin in detail.
- Advanced Order Management – whenever an order is placed, the admin should be intimated on order confirmation and through push notification an alert message should be sent to the vendor from the admin. This will support the online furniture marketplace to deliver the product in a proper way.
- In-built Analytics & Reporting Tools – each and every metrics need to be calculated to find out the performance of the platform. This tool will help you to get reports on sales, expenses, returns and many more.
- Product Approval & Management – admin should have the rights to accept or reject a product that is added by the vendor. The furniture marketplace platform will have its own restriction and vendors should stick on to it. If they try to add banned product then the admin can reject those products.
- Shop Management – since the platform has several vendors then it is quite obvious to have several shops as each vendor will have their own shop. The admin should be able to manage all the shops effectively.
Mobile App for Furniture Ecommerce Platform
Enhance your customer service by providing a dedicated mobile app for your furniture ecommerce platform. Ensure your strong presence in the digital world through your mobile app is ahead of your competitors. Improve your accessibility and reach your target audience who are available in different platforms with the stunning mobile application. The ecommerce app for furniture will help you to gather the customers’ information and through analytical tools you can easily analyze their behavior and can run your online furniture marketplace accordingly.
You can also easily create a loyalty program with your app and can provide more value to your customers. The brand will get higher recognition when it is delivered through an app. Over 2 billion people own high-powered mobile phones so you can connect better with your customers through your exclusive mobile app.
Kick-start your Online Furniture Marketplace with Zielcommerce
Zielcommerce is a robust online furniture marketplace platform that is 100% customizable and reliably scalable. Zielcommerce aggregates products from multiple vendors and reaches the target audience effectively. You can easily monetize your business with zielcommerce as the software supports all types of business and revenue models. The unique UI and UX never fails to grab the attention of visitors. Easy product categorization enables the vendor to perfect display the product. The SEO-friendly platform will support you in getting a top ranking in all search engines.
You can get integrated with all social media channels as zielcommerce has social media login features. Zielcommerce comes with a dedicated mobile application that will support you to have better conversion and gain higher customer satisfaction. The ready-to-launch furniture ecommerce platform will help you to get easy brand recognition among your audience in a very short time. Apart from all the above mentioned highlights, zielcommerce owns some unique and salient features that are listed below.
- Comes with one-time payment
- Get globally connected with multi-lingual and multiple currency support features.
- Have a PCI compliant platform and ensure your user’s data security.
- Easily integrate third-party API with zielcommerce and get your administration works done efficiently.
- Well-known and reputed payment gateways are integrated to facilitate buyers to pay online.
Conclusion
Building an online furniture marketplace needs more attention and determination as there is lot of scope and future for this industry. Work more on features and build an excellent user pleasing platform and stand alone in the digital market.
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